Elizabeth feels that there is a disadvantage for marriage like her father:

1)      What is the disadvantage that Elizabeth is talking about?

2)      How are children affected by difficulty marriages?

3)      Is it accepted today to stay in a marriage because of children?

Marriage is the social institution under which a man and woman establish their decision to live as husband and wife by legal commitments, religious ceremonies, etc (dictionary.com).  In the book entitled Pride and the Prejudice by Jane Austen it is clearly seen that marriage can be very difficult and have many disadvantages. The marriage between Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet is a typical example of this. One of the major disadvantages of difficult marriage is the fact that majority of the times the children are affected negatively and Elizabeth the second eldest daughter shows this in the book. Though, today it is accepted for a person to stay in a marriage for the children sake no matter how difficult it is.

In the book it can be seen that the marriage between Mr. and Mrs. Bennet is difficult and complicated. From the way in which the couple relates to each other readers are led to believe that an arranged marriage took place.  Mr. Bennet was seen as only tolerating Mrs. Bennet as she was seen as noisy and foolish and Mr. Bennet prefer to be away from her therefore detached himself from his family. Also, their marriage also caused lack of communication between the two therefore they have no knowledge of what is preferred by each other and decision concerning the children differ. For example when Mrs. Bennet wanted Elizabeth to marry Mr. Collins and said that she would disown her if she didn’t Mr. Bennet said the direct opposite.  

Moreover, children involved in these marriages are usually negatively affected. For instance in the book one of the daughters, Lydia went away and got eloped with Mr. Wickham. This probably was as a result of her parent not lack of attention for her. Usually, in these sort of marriages the children especially the females lack the love and attention they seek from their father and this causes them to seek the attention elsewhere even if it means running off with a man whom she hardly knew. This is what happened to Lydia. Also, children who witness these marriages usually end up with negative views about marriage and refuse to be married.   Furthermore, children lose their respect for their parents in these marriages since no real example is set before them to follow.

Couples involved in these types of marriages usually stay together for the children’s sake. Even today this is accepted in society. The reason why many of these couples stay in the marriage or are even encouraged to do so is because children who are victims of divorce are sometimes believed to be worse off than those who parent chose to stay together. However this can also be a disadvantage to the children because the constant fights or verbal abuse can still have psychological effects on the children. So sometimes it is better for the parents to separate that to let the children suffer through.